Steven is the Chairman and Founder of Bakken Energy (formerly Bakken Midstream Natural Gas).  He is also the Founder and CEO of Lebow & Co., a private investment and financial advisory firm.  Earlier in his career, Steven was a Managing Director of Investment Bank Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (“DLJ”) from 1979-2000.  At DLJ, Steven was the Head of the Retail Investment Banking Group.  On August 1, 1986, he established DLJ’s Los Angeles Office and Co-Headed the Los Angeles Office with Ken Moelis from 1990-1996.  Steven was voted into the DLJ “Hall of Fame” in 1995.  Steven was the only person in DLJ’s history to invest in five transactions that returned between 100x to 500x the original investment—Costco, Starbuck’s, PetSmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods and ULTA Beauty.  On a combined basis, the market capitalization of these companies exceeds $350 billion. Steven was very active recruiting people for DLJ and for many of the notable companies he financed.

Steven was a primary financier to companies such as Costco Wholesale, PetSmart Corporation, Dick’s Sporting Goods, ULTA Beauty; PF Chang’s, Caribou Coffee, Envestnet, Bill Me Later (PayPal) and Sagent Advisors.   He was extensively involved with DLJ’s investment banking clients until he founded Global Retail Partners within DLJ in 1996.  Global Retail Partners launched in 1996 with approximately $160 million in funding from Carrefour of France, Paul Allen’s Vulcan Investment Arm, DLJ and approximately 150 current or former CEOs or CFOs of notable companies.

In 2000, after DLJ was acquired by Credit Suisse First Boston, Steven and his partners left DLJ and rebranded Global Retail Partners as GRP Partners (GRP). Steven was the co-founder and co-managing partner of GRP. Global Retail Partners and GRP together managed approximately $900 million when Steven retired. GRP’s second fund, GRP II, an approximately $400 million fund, has been ranked the best venture capital fund for all 2000 vintage funds in the US.

Companies and individuals Steven has worked with include Autozone Corporation, Carrefour Corporation, Paul Allen’s Vulcan Organization, Costco; Starbuck’s Corporation, Egghead Discount Software, Staples Corporation, Office Max Corporation, Sears Corporation, K-Mart Corporation, Border’s Book Corporation, Brinker Corporation, Eatzi’s Corporation, KKR, Leonard Green and Partners, California Mart, Sodimac Corporation (Falabella Corporation) Chile, Oak Investment Partners, T Rowe Price Threshold Fund and many more.

Steven holds a BA in Economics and Political Science with honors, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA.  Steven received his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania-Wharton School of Business.  Steven received the Exxon Fellowship for his studies at Wharton.